Terrorism: March 25, 2002

Archives

A closer look at Iraq's use of chemical weapons, and connections with al Qaeda, appears to have explained the interest the September 11 attackers had in crop dusters. During the 1980s war with Iran, Iraq used crop dusters to drop chemical weapons (mustard and nerve gas) on Iranian troops. Thus Iraq has much practical experience using crop dusters with checmical weapons. There is also a fear that the terrorists efforts to obtain drivers permits for hazardous materials was directed more at pure terrorism than just killing a lot of people. A lot of deadly chemicals are available in liquid form. For example, lots of herbicide is hijacked (the stuff is worth up to $40 a gallon) and available via criminal gangs. A truckload of this highly toxic herbicides, with some holes drilled into the containers and then driven over highways near a large metropolitan area, could generate considerable panic and the need for an expensive clean up. A similar effect could be generated with a low level "dirty" nuclear bomb. Tons of low level nuclear material is moved around every day, or available in hospitals or industrial facilities (for irradiation and other manufacturing processes.) Add some of this nuclear material to explosives, set off in a city and watch the panic. The problem here is not high tech or availability, but simply determination on the part of the terrorists. 


 

Article Archive

Terrorism: Current 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contributions. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   Contribute   Close